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Clinic For Mental Retardation: The production of cement, drawing on nearby deposits of shale and limestone, is a leading industry. Others are book publishing and commercial printing and the manufacture of nitrogen fertilizer, optical products, concrete blocks, boats, lawn mowers, and coin-handling devices.
Hannibal-LaGrange College, a 2-year liberal arts institution that is a division of Missouri Baptist College, and a regional diagnostic clinic for mental retardation are in Hannibal.
Mental defect appears to be associated with a constellation of factors: retardation in traditional school systems, mentally defective brothers and sisters, oversuggestibility, preference for younger children as playmates, and a slow or dull manner. The vocabulary of mental defectives is markedly below normal. Even in practical, nonabstract types of work mentally deficient children are characterized by limited attention, limited use of experience, and a poor understanding of interrelations.
Personality difficulties and emotional conflicts often arise out of fears of physical inadequacy. On the other hand, physical acceleration, among boys, may contribute to better social and psychological adjustment.
Physical acceleration coupled with mental retardation is an especially disturbing form of development. In the traditional school such an individual's mental status places him with children much smaller. Owing to his apparent maturity, he is constantly prodded to achieve beyond his real ability, often with resulting apathy or antisocial conduct. |
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